My Little Fish

So my girls have spent a total of 5 hours in water today! We went to Aquaworld since B had Pres. Day off, then they had their swim lessons, then bath time... I told them that they might turn into fish and Maleia chimes in, "Well that's better than turning into a raisin!" Then she sits for a while, runs up to me and says, "How do you become a Mermaid?"

Let's get a play-by-play shall we?

Aquaworld:
It was snowing this morning and we REALLY wanted to get out of the house, so off we went to Aquaworld for almost 3 hours for under $20. A steal, I know. This place is a water park on crack, and indoors!! This was Haley's first time and she was hooked at the wave pool, I was hooked at the surfing center, B was hooked at the indoor/outdoor water slides, Maleia was hooked at the Rainbow slide, and Dylan at the Dragon Slide. We are wondering if they have yearly passes. I have never seen so many guys in speedos in my life. I had to keep reminding my girls that they weren't wearing bikinis and to get them to stop saying, "That guy's not modest either!" really loud.

Sad story: The kid area was closed for cleaning today, I didn't take any pictures, and Dylan got his thumb shut in a door. :( I can't wait for a day at Aquaworld when poor Dylan isn't in pain. Teething one time. Then we went the day after he got a zillion shots.

Swim lessons:
Can I be in love with a swim instructor?? We got to a Hungarian swim center and no one spoke English, BUT someone spoke Spanish!!! I haven't been this happy to communicate with a Hungarian since the lazy-eyed lady that spoke 6 languages at the Sports store! So both of my kids got into a beginning Swim class and as we walked down to the lockers, Haley started to get really nervous. We were about to walk up the stairs to the pools when she hugged herself and started to cry. I was so sad for her, so I told her that we would go up the stairs and tell her what we saw. It was Maleia that told her, "I see a slide, lots of toys, and a pool that goes up to here! (pointing to her belly)" Haley's face lit up and she never looked back.

Then there was a glitch. I didn't have swim caps for my girls. Dang Europe and their "cleanliness." I should have known this since Haley had to have one for swim class at school, but I totally didn't think of it. But my man Gabor rescued us. I. LOVE. GABOR!!! And so do my girls. They were putty in his hands and they did EVERYTHING he told them to do. And they loved it.

Though the speedos seemed to just come out of nowhere. You think they were wearing a swim suit, then they would just drop their "outer suit" and WHAM another speedo.

So the entire time I had this goofy, blissful smile on my face, not because of the speedos, but because my kids were giddy to put thier faces in the water and ride on the big floaty thing while kicking, and go down the slide into a 2 foot drop off. This might sound really lame, but it was magical to me. You have to know Haley and her fears. They seem so irrational, but to her they are so real, so to say that putting her face in the water makes her scared is an understatement. She totally whigs out! Ballistic! Insanely annoying screamfest! She took a 8 week swimming class at school and everyday I would ask her how it was and she would reply, "I didn't let go of the side once, but I sure kicked well." or "I let go of the side one time, but it was on the stairs." I would just keep saying, "Good! That's okay about not letting go. Maybe next time. But you had fun right?" Then I'd get this head down, eyebrows raised, look that would answer, "If you think for one second that I was having 'fun' then you must think stubbing your toe on a razorblade is fun."

That is where it left off and since I knew it was time for her to learn how to swim, I shelled out the dough to pay for private lessons... a whole $80 a month for 2 kids!!!! For private lessons 3 times a week! Again, I love Gabor. I did not love his green Speedo, but he worked wonders on my kiddos, so he gets an A in my book.

Sorry for the excessive butt-cheeks in Speedos, but I wanted to give a full shot. Gabor is sitting in the water by the way.

Fun big floating thing and happy swimming faces.

They loved every minute.. the lighting wasn't great so I couldn't get a great shot, but just look at thier fuzzy looking giddy faces!! Water skiing here they come!

Kick my little darlings! Kick! And sorry (again) for those wedgies in the background. Just pick 'em already! It's like I was waiting for them to do it. ... but they wouldn't!

Do you know how many times we had tried this with our kids? Good ole Gabor had those girls wrapped around his little finger! I think I even see a grin there. . . yup. There's the dimple.

All by herself!

Next class: Sychronized swimming! :)

Bath time:

Who can resist a cute naked baby?! I dare you!

I realized that I don't have many naked Maleia bath pics, so I will get on that. I can totally see Harmony shaking her head in disgust.